Information retrieval is a process by which a user submits a query to a search engine, and the search engine launches the query against content (or an index of that content) to identify content that is responsive, or otherwise relevant to, the query input by the user. The results returned by the search engine often include hyperlinks to the identified content, in rank order, based on some relevance measure. The results may also include some descriptive material associated with the hyperlink, such as a few phrases from the content.
In an effort to improve information retrieval systems, some work has been done involving alternative query formulations, known as “query suggestions”, which are offered to a user following an initial query. The query suggestion allows the user to modify the specification of their informational needs provided to the search engine, which often leads to improved retrieval performance. Some current query suggestion approaches draw upon the query reformulation behavior of other users, to make query recommendations based on previous user interactions with the search engine.
However, this type of interaction-based approach to query suggestion has its limitations. It can be less effective in assisting a user when the information needed by the user is exploratory in nature. This is because a large portion of user activity for such information needs may occur beyond search engine interactions. For instance, in cases where directed searching is only a fraction of users' information-seeking behavior, the utility of users' clicks over the space of top-ranked results may be limited in its effectiveness, because it does not cover the subsequent browsing behavior of those users.
Some browser plug-ins and proxy server logs provide access to the browsing patterns of users that transcend search engine interactions. These data have been used to improve search result ranking, but only did so by considering page visitation statistics independently of one another. It did not take into account the pages' relative positions on post-query browsing paths. Other systems have used this type of information to improve retrieval accuracy by using sequences of consecutive query reformulations. However, this type of system does not consider a user's interactions beyond the reformulation of queries on the search result page.
One system has investigated the possibility of supporting navigation based on the browse trail of other users within a specific domain. This system operated by finding the most popular pages within a given domain. This system simply offers several within-domain shortcuts below the title of a returned search result. The shortcuts appear to be sub-links from a homepage listing, to a set of pages that are directly accessible from that home page listing.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.